History Of The Rosary

"She pondered all these things in her heart." ~ Luke 2:51

THE ROSARY IS AN ancient Christian devotion in which vocal and mental prayer unite the whole person in effective and purposeful meditation on the central mysteries of Christian belief. The term 'Rosary' comes from rosarium, meaning 'rose garden,' which was a common term in the Middle Ages for a collection of similar material, such as an anthology of stories on the same theme or subject.

From the earliest times, devout people used 'counters' of pebbles, berries, petals, or knots on a cord to keep an accurate count of their prayers and how long they had prayed. Monks would pray the 150 Psalms, called the Breviary or Liturgy of the Hours. Those people who did not know how to read wanted to share in this practice, so praying on a string of beads or knots began as a parallel to praying the Psalms. These illiterates substituted Ave Marias for the Psalms they could not read as a way to remember Our Lord and His mother throughout the day.

In the fifteenth century, a Carthusian monk divided the rosary into 15 decades and a Dominican assigned mysteries - events in the life of Jesus as written in the Gospels - to each of the decades. By meditating on these events even the illiterate could know the stories in the Bible. Further developments arose during this time: the Our Father was added intact from the Gospel of Matthew; the Hail Mary developed from the scriptural greetings of Gabriel and Elisabeth to Mary in Luke's Gospel, plus a popular exhortation in use by the laity of that period. The Glory Be was used as a common doxology from the earliest Christian times when praying the Psalms.

Spending time each day pondering the life of Our Lord and His mother, His first disciple, is as relevant now as it was in ancient times. The Rosary is powerful armor against the enemies of Christ and His Body, the Church; many graces are obtained through praying it.


For more information, including the history and miracles of the Rosary, listen to this audio presentation which, for your listening enjoyment, is accompanied by beautiful guitar music in the background. (Scroll about halfway down the page.)